Is Backyard Urban Farming Realistic for Me?

Around 50% of the world’s population lives in cities. Twenty-six of those cities are expected to exceed a population of 10 million by 2015, according to Wikipedia. It is projected that these cities will need to import about 6,600 tons of food per day to feed a population of this size. What happens if there is a widespread catastrophic event? This is one of the primary reasons over 800 million people worldwide are currently involved in urban farming.
Before you say, “I can’t do that,” understand that you have many options with urban farming. Urban activities for self-sufficiency to consider:

Wind or Solar Power

Container Gardening

Vertical Gardening

Rainwater Collection

Beekeeping

Small Farm Animals (goats, chickens, etc.)

Fish Farming

If your living space only allows for container gardening right now, that’s a start. If your end goal is to be completely self-sustaining with your own renewable food and power sources, you can get there.

Where Can I Learn More?

There are a lot of great sites out there to help educate the masses about this growing trend.

Do be aware that you may run into some legalities depending on your location. The current laws in some cities are not up-to-date and/or are restrictive when it comes to what residents are allowed to do on their property within city limits. If you find yourself in this situation, seek help. There are grassroots movements nationwide to change these laws in order for citizens to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on outside entities for life’s basic necessities.

And, let’s not forget other big benefits of urban farming – saving money and getting healthy. With gas prices and drought conditions on the rise, the grocery bill continues to creep up as well. And you never quite know what pesticides, insecticides, hormones or genetic altering has been added to our mass produced food supply. With your own backyard farm, you control every aspect from start to table.